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Wednesday, 2 November 2011

The joke about the wide-mouthed frog

You might remember my post earlier in the year about Ed Emberley's wonderful drawing books for children. He's now released a line of organic fabric with Cloud 9 and I don't think I've been this excited about fabric designs for children since I first saw Monaluna's foxes (I eventually made the baby bear's sleeping bag from that and am closely guarding the scrap that I have left over).

There's something fresh and vibrant about these prints and they look baby-friendly while maintaining enough dignity to appeal to older children too - and I think that's quite a hard balance to achieve. It's a tricksy task to find a fabric that's suitable for younger children, but that has the longevity not to be cast aside as they grow older.

These wide-mouthed frogs are a complete delight and instantly took me back to my own school days. Do you remember the joke about the wide-mouthed frog? I'm not really a jokey sort of person, but I love this joke. I wonder if Mr Emberley remembered this from his own schooldays when he was designing all those frogs. I showed my daughter the fabric and then performed the joke complete with stretched-mouth and adorable frog voice (it sounded adorable in my head anyway, perhaps partly because when I tell this I'm imagining my boyfriend aged 13 telling it to me....he was quite adorable, especially in frog-mode). My daughter looked bemused and said that she really liked the fabric (Ed's fabric 1: wide-mouthed frog joke 0. Go Ed!).

For those who've forgotten it and wish to impress their own children or friends with it, here's my version (for those that haven't heard this joke, the punch line is in the changing mouth shape at the end of the joke, so it's essential that you tell this joke with a fully-stretched mouth at the relevant places!)

There was once a wide-mouthed frog who decided to venture from his pond and go in search of friendship. He leapt off through the grass until he came across a large black and white stripey animal with a handsome mane and four spindly legs. Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Hello, I'm a wide-mouthed frog, who are you and what do you eat?Zebra: (normal mouth, slightly horsey voice) I'm a zebra and I eat grasses and plants.Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Oh, that's nice.

He hopped off hoping to meet someone who would share his enthusiasm for eating insects. Eventually he came across an enormous bird with talons as pointy as knitting needles. Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Hello! Who are you and what do you eat?Eagle: (normal mouth, squawky voice) I'm an eagle and I eat little birds and mice.Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Oh that's nice

The wide-mouthed frog wasn't really so sure about that though, so he boinged away and continued to leap until he came across a bearded white animal with kind, curious eyes. Wide-mouthed frog: (Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Hello! Who are you and what do you eat?Goat:(normal mouth, gruff voice) I'm a goat and I'll eat all sorts. I especially like shoes and old car tyres though.Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Oh, that's nice!

The frog leapt away feeling slightly puzzled by the goat's food choices, but didn't like to judge. He finally stopped when he came across a large, scaly green animal with lazy eyes and fearsome teeth. Wide-mouthed frog:(Stretch mouth out with fingers and adopt adorable frog voice) Hello! Who are you and what do you eat?Alligator:(normal mouth, deep voice) I'm an alligator and I eat wide-mouthed frogsWide-mouthed frog:(turn mouth into very small 'o' and adopt high-pitched voice) Oh! How nice, you don't see many of them around here, do you!

Do you love that joke as much as I do?

Oh, and the Cloud 9 goodness doesn't stop with Mr Emberley...do take a look at this post here to see the other collections on the horizon. Fabric tastes are so varied and subjective that not every collection will appeal to every person...which is why I find it so amazing that I love every single one of these collections and from the response on other blogs, that feeling seems to be universal.

So many lovely new lines were launched at quilt market in Houston last week - which new collections have you fallen in love with recently?

Florence x

PS. In other news - have you seen that Colette Patterns are giving away five patterns of your choice and a copy of Sarai's new book to celebrate its launch? You can enter here, where details of the book's blog tour are also shared - I'm so delighted to be a stop on the tour and on the 8th November I'll be sharing an interview with Sarai here (and a book review the day prior to that...too much goodness to cram all into one post).

I love Ed Emberley, so I think it's awesome to see him doing a line of fabric for Cloud9.Also, there's a song and storybook about that joke. I know this because the librarian plays the song & shares the book every week at story time and it's my son's FAVORITE moment of story time each week!Here's the links for the book & song for those interested-(book) http://www.amazon.com/Wide-Mouthed-Frog-POP-UP-BOOK/dp/B0002TX4YI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320244689&sr=8-1

Thanks so much for the laugh...like you I think this joke is hilarious, but my (almost) 9 and 12 year olds consider it extremely lame...I don't think I've told it to my 5 year-old so I'll try when she gets home from school.Fabric's brill too!

I don't think I've heard that joke before but I like it! Did you hear about the scarecrow who won an award? They said he was outstanding in his field.

I was going to email you about that fabric but I couldn't find your post about the drawing book to check it was the same person. I'm a bit overly excited about the 'Alegria' line also planned for Feb...

Ah, the wide mouthed frog joke - thank you for bringing back happy memories of my brother performing it so hilariously for our children when they were little. Must ask him to give a repeat performance for their children now! I will have to buy some of that wonderful fabric.

Hi Florence, we also love the frog joke and have many happy memories of trying to tell it and getting it wrong! Nina, the scarecrow joke was brilliant too!

We bought one of your Monaluna sleeping bags for a little girl who loves foxes and then had to find a soft and fluffy little toy fox who fits perfectly. We'll post some photos on our blog later this week, he looks so cute in his little bed... LouLou & Will x

Hello! This is such a strange coincidence as I was looking for a video on the internet - hopefully of a child telling this joke - so that I could put it on my own blog. For some reason, I wanted to do a brief blog about my favourite jokes and the Wide Mouthed Frog was definitely one of them! Thank you for sharing both the joke and the lovely fabric. Can I ask you a favour - do you mind if I reproduce your joke on my blog?? Full recognition of the source, of course. Axxx

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Hello, my name is Florence. I'm 36, a mummy of two, obsessive stitcher and occasional pattern designer. I wake in the night with a mind whirring over sewing construction techniques and daydream away hours pondering fabrics choices. This blog is a record of all these things. I hope you enjoy reading.